Nascent
by Feral Phoenix
Summary: (FFI-FF:U) They're the most unlikely bunch of so-called Warriors of Light that any world has ever seen, but they're going to try to save the world anyway. For the first time, hear the story that began the saga of the Unlimited.
1. Crystal

Nascent

DISCLAIMER: Don't own FF:U... or FFI... or anything really. I'm poor. Don't sue me. Don't blame me for wanting to brutally slaughter certain people at Square-Enix for things they've done... I'm just a humble little fangirl so spare me, pleeeeeease...

Author's Note: There are plot bunnies that sit politely at the corners of your mind, waiting for you to write them out. There are plot bunnies that BITE you and go "write me NOW". And then there are the sneaky little plot bunnies. They sit right behind you and let you notice and plan. And every few days... they poke you. So it's like you're going around saying, "Hmm, yeah, that might work"... and then later that day or that night or whatever... it pokes you. So you think about it. And later the NEXT day, when you're writing or playing a game or something, it pokes you again...

This was a poking bunny. And I'm going to give this story a try... just so's it will stop poking me... and I'll have it up on FF-Net at least. If you like it, let me know. If you don't... shut your face. Or one of my muses will get you. They're very accomplished at that, believe me.

Here we go...

:The Prophecy:

_The world lies shrouded in darkness._

_The winds die..._

_The seas rage..._

_The earth decays..._

_But the people believe in a prophecy, patiently awaiting its fulfilment._

_"When darkness veils the world, four Warriors of Light will come."_

_After a long journey, four young travelers did appear..._

_...and in the hand of each was clutched a crystal._

_(Lisa)_

The white jewel on the cord around my neck feels like a lump of lead weighing me down. My mother told me once, before the great fire that destroyed everything, that I had been born holding it in my hand. She said that at that time, it was glowing with a fierce light that made it impossible to look at. Now it's just a clear rock that holds a dim vestige of whiteness.

My clothes are torn, my hair is a mess, I'm bloody, hurting, and about to collapse. But I've seen the camp of travelers; I've heard their talk, almost cheerful, but strangely solemn, nearly sombre. I have to hope that they're kinder than the strange soldier.

He was dragging an unconscious girl with blue hair and a gauzy white dress through the underbrush as he headed towards the decrepit shrine in the distance. He heard my breathing from behind the trees, saw me, captured me, and (I shudder to remember it) had his way with me. Or in plainer terms, he beat me, raped me, and left me for dead.

God only knows what he'll do to the little girl if someone doesn't stop him. She couldn't have been more than twelve years old... but if he'd had the hard-on to attack me in my state, it won't be too much of a stretch to... God.

Shoving through the bushes, not caring how much noise I'm making, I manage to stagger into the clearing. The travelers look up. Four of them, roughly around my age... three young men and a girl. As the scene goes dark and the world spins around me, I hear their cries of shock, and right before I hit the ground, I feel warm hands at my back.

I can only hope...

* * *

Before any of them could do anything, the strange girl swayed and dropped towards the solid earth beneath her feet. She hit and hit hardalthough they launched themselves over to her side, she was already unconscious by the time they reached her. 

She looked to be vaguely in her teens. "Vaguely" was the word for it, all right... she was so emaciated that it was hard to tell. She also seemed to have had a bad run-in with someone stronger than hershe was bloodied and bruised and broken; all the wounds seemed to be recent. She had long, matted, filthy-looking black hair, and her eyes (from what they'd seen while they were open) were earthy brown in color. She was dressed only in a white shift with red trim at the base and the arm holes; the fabric was roughly cut and scratchy. She had to be some kind of vagrant or wanderer... with an appearance like that, she wasn't taking care of herself or had no one to take care of her.

The youngest of the four, a boy of about fifteen or sixteen with short, fluffy white hair, green eyes, and exclusively white clothing, carefully touched at her shoulders to roll her over. Upon seeing the extent of her injuries, he shook his head with a soft sigh, looking worried. "Poor thing. She's really been worked over..." His eyes flicked between the others' faces. "I don't know if we'll be able to care for her... but we can't just leave her, can we? What do you think, Niisama?"

Another of the young men, this one a few years older than the first, with similar features and brilliant red hair and eyes, flicked long strands of his mane off his shoulders with a frown. "She knew we were here," he said after a pause. "She was heading for our camp purposely... even if it did look like she blundered onto us. So you're right, Kumo. We can't just turn someone away if they came looking for our help."

"But he's also right that we don't have the proper skill to take care of all of this," the only girl in the party said practically, waving a hand at the stranger's wounds. She wore a short, wide-sleeved black shift and had silver-gray hair bound into braids that stuck stubbornly up; two smaller braids framed her face. Her eyes were screened by her heavy bangs, which she didn't seem to notice. "Kiri, Kumo, you're being a little idealistic. If we can't care for her, what else can we do?"

"You're suggesting we abandon her, then?" Kiri asked, his carmine eyes narrowing.

The girl glared back at him. "Of course not! We should leave her in the city that's up ahead. Surely _they _will have mages capable of dealing with her."

"She came to _us, _Aura," Kiri said flatly.

Just as it seemed that the two of them would get into a messy argument, the fourth member of the party, who had remained silent up until then, finally spoke.

"She stays."

Everyone stared at him. Swathed in a black cloak with his long mahogany-brown hair bound into a horsetail, he had fixed the girl with a piercing cerulean-eyed stare from the moment she'd appeared. He was the eldest among them, in his early twenties, and usually held a forbidding-almost regal-silence.

"Kaze...?" Kumo began uncertainly.

Kaze reached out with a gloved left hand and gently lifted up the jewel that the girl wore as a pendant. The others, noticing it for the first time, each let out a cry of disbelief.

"But it... it's just like ours!" Kiri finally managed.

"I see now," Kumo said softly. "If she has a crystal, then that means... she was fated to come upon us. Maybe this links her to us somehow, even though there can't be any way..."

Kaze just nodded, then went back to silence.

Aura sighed and shook her head. "Okay, okay. You guys win. I'll try to do something about her so that she doesn't bleed to death in the night, and then in the morning we'll see if she wakes up. I swear, though, we are getting her help in Cornelia."

* * *

Moaning, the girl slowly opened her umber-brown eyes. Shifting, she winced, and looked down at herself. Someone-one of the travelers, apparently-had skillfully wrapped bandages around the worst of her injuries, and gently staunched the flow of blood from between her legs. Her breasts had been bound into submission with a length of linen cloth, and someone had sewn up some of the rips in her shift with fine thread. 

"Who...?" she asked blearily, and turned, realizing she was being watched.

"Good morning," a soft female voice behind her said. The young woman from the traveling group she'd seen was sitting cross-legged just a foot back from her head. Slowly, agonizingly, she sat up. "You're gonna be okay, but you'd better eat something just so that you don't faint again. What's the last good meal you've eaten, girl? You are beyond doubt the worst case of malnutrition I've ever seen. ...Oh, by the way, my name's Aura. Hougekiju Aura."

"Lisa... my name is Lisa," the starved and beaten girl managed in a very soft voice.

"Lisa?" Aura smiled. The expression had a likable crookedness to it that made Lisa smile back. "That's a cute name. Why don't you come with me to eat something?"

With stilted movements, Lisa obliged. The mere mention of food almost made her drool; only the manners her mother had taught her so long ago kept her from embarrassing herself. Even so, her stomach let out a loud growl that made her blush. Hearing it, Aura broke out laughing.

The boy in white that Lisa had seen was carefully monitoring the contents of a large black pot that was sitting on the stones that surrounded the campfire. Looking up at the girls, he smiled, his jadeine eyes seeming to light from within. "Only a few moments more," he promised. "Then you'll be able to eat as much as you want. Niisama had a good catch early this morning."

"This is Kumo," Aura told Lisa, messing up the boy's fluffy hair. "He's the baby of the party... won't be sixteen for about two months yet, but he's a mean hand with a sword, a decent flutist, and the only one of us who has cooking skills worth shit. And he's such a sweetie too."

Still smiling, the "baby" bowed his head politely. "Makenshi Kumo, Lisa-san." Picking up a smooth wooden bowl from a stack beside him, he ladled out a liberal amount of the stew he'd been watching and held it out to Lisa. "Here you go!"

A bit taken aback, Lisa took the bowl. The scent nearly made her swoonshe could smell sweet carrots and fresh basil and pepper, as well as some kind of meat. "Th...thanks..."

"Go ahead and eat it," Aura told her. "Though I warn you, it's hot." Kumo passed a second bowl with a slightly smaller serving up to her.

Lisa needed no further obliging. She tore into the stew as if it was the first meal she'd ever eaten in all her years, and waxed more blissful with every bite. "It's sooooo good," she finally managed after she'd picked the bowl clean of contents.

"I could do better," Kumo said modestly, staring at the ground, but his face was flushed with the compliment.

The young man in red stood from where he'd been sitting and meandered over. "Morning," he said flatly, then pulled a brown bundle from where it was tucked beneath his arm. "Here." He tossed them before Lisa's bare feet. "They're shoes. Wear them. Save your feet a little pain." Cautiously, Lisa picked them up. They were constructed of some animal hide, the fur still kept on the outside and down lining the inside, with toughened hides for soles. "I've been making them since I skinned the damned things. Go ahead, put them on." With that, he sat down and accepted a bowl from Kumo, starting to eat.

Blinking, Lisa slowly tucked her feet into the rabbitskin slippers. "Uh..."

Aura shook her head. "Don't mind him. He's hungry and he didn't get to sleep much. He was worried... we all were. You looked for a minute like you weren't going to hold out, you know."

Lisa looked at her new shoes, face flushing. "Oh."

With a sigh, the redhead scrubbed the back of a hand across his face. "It's Madoushi Kiri," he said, sounding a little apologetic. "Yeah, I think it's pretty much naptime for me, so I'm not in the best of moods. Sorry. I'm Kumo's brother, but I have none of his cooking skill or his patience."

Lisa frowned slightly. "You're brothers, but you have different last names?"

Kiri shrugged one shoulder. "Yeah... where we live, your last name's determined by what you make of yourself... like a title. Kumo and I have different names because we've gotten through life on slightly different paths." Kumo, removing the pot of stew from the fire, set it down and went to give Kiri an obviously affectionate hug from behind.

Turning, Lisa pointed to the fourth member of the travelers' party. "Who's that?"

The man swathed in darkness turned to fix her with a piercingly apathic stare, then turned away again. A slow chill crept across Lisa's skin, and she shivered.

Aura smiled crookedly and shook her head. "That's my big brother, Kaze. Don't mind him... he's not exactly the most social of people, especially with those he's just met. It'll take him awhile to open up to you, believe me. He spent an entire week giving Kiri the silent treatment back when the four of us first ended up together."

Lisa nodded, then stared down at her hands. "Um, uh... where are you going? I-I don't mean to be blunt about it, it's just that... well..."

"We're headed for the city of Cornelia," Kumo said kindly, seeming not to notice Lisa's stumbling manner. "We were planning on taking you with us, in order to make sure you got better medicinal care than we could provide..."

Blinking out of sheer surprise, Lisa pinked. "You really mean that? Thank you so much...!" After a pause, her face fell. "But... why would you...?"

Aura grimaced. "We've got some very good reasons, even though we don't know much about you. That pendant of yours, for one." Lisa's hands flew to the vaguely white crystal at her collarbones at the mention of it. "You see..." The other girl slowly pulled something from a pocket hidden at the seam of her dress.

Upon seeing it, Lisa gasped, feeling the world tilt around her. Aura held in her hand a crystal exactly like the one Lisa wore, save one differenceits color. This stone was a pure blue.

"Each of us has one," Kumo said softly. "We don't know why we were gifted with these crystals, or what exactly they mean... not even what they're supposed to do. We just know that when the last light within them went out, we were to head for Cornelia. That's why we've come so far from our homelands and that is why we're drifting farther. That is also why we think you need to come with us. Maybe whatever we need to find in Cornelia will affect you too."

"Kumo-chan puts too much stock in Fate," Kiri quipped dryly.

"And Kiri doesn't have enough faith in it," Aura replied with a glare.

"At any rate, that's where we're going and why you're coming," Kumo interrupted, looking tired. Apparently this wasn't the first time an argument of that sort had broken out. "Once everyone's done eating, we should probably get moving... right?"

"Hear, hear." Kiri listlessly punched a fist into the air. "Sooner we get there, the sooner we get back home. I'm bloody sick of bloody traveling."

"Shut up, and enough with the 'bloodies'," Aura snapped. "Some Warrior of Light you are. Have a little faith in the way things work, why don't you."

"I have plenty of faith in the way things work," Kiri retorted. "I'm a TAOIST. That's what we do. I just don't like this whole prophecy deal. Someone's laughing at us somewhere, I just know it."

Kumo sighed and turned big green eyes on Lisa. "You see what I have to put up with," he said tragically, shaking his head.

* * *

_(Lisa)_

We have arrived.

Cornelia is a large town, perhaps, but not exactly the "city" people claim it is. A town that surrounds a large stone-brick castle, supposedly the dwelling of a fair king, his wife, and his daughters.

The local white mage has finished treating the worst of my wounds. I am lucky, she claims. Most would not have survived such a harsh beating in my state.

_They're the lucky ones, _I want to say, but I keep silent. Surviving rape is a double-edged change. I am strong because I survived; I am weak because I couldn't defend myself. I don't want to think about it.

Since the white mage has proclaimed that I am able to travel, and since Aura and her companions seem to be a decent group of people, I may as well go with them. And perhaps I will find the purpose of the crystal that even now seems to be weighing me down.

As we spend a little time doing nothing (except resting sore feet), a soldier with the castle crest embroidered on his tunic runs over, staring at me in shock and (do I imagine this?) more than a little horror.

"That crystal...!" he cries, staring at the stone on the fraying cord around my neck. "You must see the king at once!"


	2. Chaos Shrine

Nascent

Disclaimer be in Part I

Author's Note: So... how do you think things are going so far? I know that the Original-Final-Fantasy-With-A-Twist thing is kinda common on FF-Net, but this is a different twist and a different novelization and... heck, it's more of an FF:U fic than an FFI fic. I think.

My story-to-plug of the day is "Fleeting Fantasies", a very amusing romance fic that pairs Kaze up with... ahh, that would be telling. Just note that it's one of the rarer pairings. The author, Klyre, characterizes everyone well (especially Kumo) and I'm waiting VERY impatiently for the next update, which I hope comes soon. Heehee. As a warning, there are hints of past Kiri/Kumo in the story, but that does not seem to be a major pairing, and besides, that ends up in a lot of my stuff too (sometimes as a normal sibling relationship, and sometimes as a romantic relationship). Read it!

Story now! Remember to give me nice, long, insightful reviews here! One-line reviews are one of my biggest pet peeves!

_(Aura)_

The soldier drags Lisa off, so naturally, the rest of us follow.

We end up at the big castle at the center of the city, in the chamber atop the main building. There, a big guy in a dark robe with curly hair and a curly beard sits in a simple chair, looking sad. A shrewd-looking bald dude in fancy clothes sits at his right side, giving us a look like we're something smelly being waved under his nose.

The soldier goes and whispers something to the guy in the chair, who seems to be the king. The man nods, then addresses us directly.

"Welcome, travelers." His voice is rich and deep, and he speaks slowly, choosing his words carefully. "I am told you carry crystals. Is this true?"

The four of us look at each other; Lisa stares at her rabbitskin shoes and fingers the jewel at her throat. I slowly pull out my blue stone; Kumo takes out his mint-green one, Kiri displays his rubylike gem, and after a pause, Kaze shows the king his golden-brown one.

The king nods, looking thoughtful. "It's just as Lukahn's prophecy foretold... when darkness veils the world, four Warriors of Light shall come."

The nasty guy points at Lisa with a snooty face. "Your Majesty, we cannot be certain that these are the warriors foretold by the prophecy. Lukahn mentioned _four _warriors, not _five. _Who is this girl?"

"A friend," Kiri snaps, giving the man the evil eye.

"They stand before us with the crystals," the king says slowly. "I cannot dismiss this as mere coincidence. Crystal bearers, there is a task I would ask of you. Will you not rescue my daughter, Sarah?"

The snooty man rolls his eyes, sighs, and speaks. "Garland, a knight once in His Majesty's service, has abducted Princess Sarah. I ask for your aid in the name of His Majesty, the king of Cornelia. Garland has taken refuge in the Chaos Shrine, which lies to our north. Of course, we did attempt to save the princess ourselves... but Garland is the finest swordsman in the kingdom. We have none who can match him."

As he speaks, Lisa's dark eyes get bigger and bigger, and she starts to shiver. Does she know something about this?

"I've heard that you wish to journey to the continent to our north," the king begins again. "The bridge leading north was lost long ago, making passage impossible. If you can rescue Sarah, I will have the bridge rebuilt as a sign of my gratitude. Go now, Warriors of Light, and do not fail me!"

* * *

"We've heard some talk of a crystal in the north," Aura explained as the five of them headed back through the castle. "If it has something to do with ours, we have to at least check it out, right? I mean... we have no idea what we're doing or where we're going, so we need to examine every lead we find."

Lisa nodded, feeling cold. A knight who had captured a young girl and held her hostage... it had to be the man who had... she shivered again, unable to control it.

"What's wrong?" Kumo asked, a crease forming at the center of his brow. "Lisa..."

"It's just that, well..." she faltered, grinding her toe into the castle's stone floor.

"Something's the matter, certainly," Aura said sternly, planting her hands on her hips. "That look on your face says it pretty plainly."

"I think that man Garland... is the one who hurt me," Lisa replied in a very small voice, still grinding her toe, tucking her chin, and twisting like a little girl.

The others stared at her in stunned silence.

"He must be stopped," Kaze said in a low and angry voice.

"Oniichan's right," Aura echoed. "If he's the one who did that to you... I am personally gonna have a little 'word' with him, and that word ain't gonna be 'blessings'!"

"But he's... very strong," Lisa tried to tell them. "He..."

"We aren't that weak ourselves, thank you very much," Kiri cut her off with a snort. "We've gotta go get rid of him. He's a nasty jerk if all he can think to do is pick on girls."

Kumo nodded, pale-faced and wide-eyed.

Lisa bowed her head. "I... I want to help you..." When she looked up at them, her expression told them that she'd resolved herself. "I couldn't defend myself, but I can avenge myself... I hope."

Aura's crooked smile returned as she gave the other girl a whack on the shoulder. "That's a good girl. I knew you'd be useful _somehow."_

"Uh, actually..." Kiri gave an almost barking half-laugh. "You wanted to leave her at the healer's because you thought she wasn't strong enough to help us."

Glaring and blushing, Aura shook her fist at him. "Shut it, you! I did not!"

"Did so!"

"I did NOT!"

"Yes you did..."

Kumo shook his head. "There they go again..."

* * *

The Chaos Shrine the king had spoken of lay to the north of Cornelia, at the tip of a peninsula that jutted slightly from the surrounding land. From the look of it, it had surely seen better daysits higher floors had been destroyed by time, leaving only the ground level intact. Its gray marble walls were stained with age, and cracks ran through the stone, threatening the once-great building with destruction.

Slowly, the little party straggled through the door, looking around.

"Garland's somewhere in here," Aura muttered dubiously, fingering something in a sheathlike slip of leather at her belt.

Kaze and Kiri, meanwhile, were glaring around the structure, as if the errant knight was lurking around a corner somewhere and they had heard or seen him.

Lisa walked timidly forward, twisting at the rough hem of her shift. Although her earlier words had been brash, even brave, in truth she really did not want to do this. If Garland had attacked her, he could do it againand to Aura as well, perhaps even to Kumo, who was young and childishly naive and even feminine, if you wanted to look at him that way. And surely he would not hesitate to kill Kaze and Kiri. She shuddered at the thought and wondered guiltily why she had gotten her new friends into this.

Kumo sighed dreamily and took a few waltzing steps into the shrine, pressing both hands to his heart in rapture. "I love this place," he said with a smile. "I love it, I love it, I love it..."

"What's with you, chibi-chan?" Aura asked, also smiling in her crooked, likable way.

"It just feels so, so... _warm," _Kumo breezed happily, still half-dancing. "It's a beautiful, beautiful place... but also sad, because so much that should have been treasured was lost..."

Kiri, relaxing, went up to his little brother, giving Kumo a gentle hug which the white-haired boy enthusiastically returned. "Ototo-chan... has a strong connection to the elements," he told the others by way of explanation. "This place... seems to be under the focus of an elemental current. The essences of everything are almost _alive _in here, and it has... a euphoric effect."

Lisa nodded. She could understand what he meant; the spirits flowed around her, as if trying to bolster her confidence. "I see..."

Kaze raised his eyebrows, then pointed to the chamber at the center of the shrine. "He's in there," he said, sounding almost amused. "Garland's in there. In this place... it's hard to miss such amorality."

"Shall we?" Aura asked enthusiastically, an unholy expression of cheer on her face. Lisa twitched.

"Yes, let's," Kiri replied, just as cheerfully. For once, they were in perfect agreement. Though still a little uneasy, Lisa couldn't help but smile, feeling some of her anxiety fade away.

And so the five of them headed into the very core of the Chaos Shrine.

A man in black armor stood in the middle of the room, in front of a strange crystal that looked like a ball of night without stars. On the floor next to him was a girl in a white dress with wavy teal hairshe was unconscious but seemed otherwise unharmed. Five bats keened mournfully as they flitted around the room.

"The king will have no choice but to trade the kingdom for his daughter's life," Garland gloated. "Cornelia is mine!"

"OI! Pedophile!" Aura barked. Garland jumped and turned around, glaring. "That's Sarah, if I'm not mistaken? Then would you mind handing her over? Maybe that way we'll spare your miserable life."

Lisa barely kept from slapping herself. Aura had to put it so bluntly...

"What's this?" Garland asked snidely. "The king's lapdogs?" Aura replied with a particularly foul curse that made Lisa wince and Kiri clap his hands over his brother's ears with an angry glare at her. "You actually think you can take the great Garland?" He laughed, as if they'd made some uproarious joke. "Fine! Then I shall cut you all down!"

And with that, he lunged.

Lisa barely managed to get out of the way, but the others leaped as soon as Garland shifted his weight. Kumo and Kiri both whipped out wicked-looking broadswords (Kumo's white, Kiri's red), and Aura pulled out a silvery thing that looked somewhat like a miniature cannon. Kaze also drew one of the cannon-like things, although his was longer and red in color.

Kaze was the first to reacthe fired the cannon device, but the ball bounced off Garland's protective armor. With a growled curse, the tall man put it away and ran to grab Lisa's wrist, pulling her out of the fray.

"Stay with me," he ordered her. "I will protect you."

Lisa stared up at him, but only for a moment; the sounds of the fight drew her attention again.

Kiri and Kumo danced around Garland, each wielding his monstrous sword in one hand. The knight was doing a remarkable job of fending off both of them as they attacked as one; however, he was getting hit. After a few slashes that Lisa had trouble seeing clearly, both brothers leaped backwards. Lisa turned in time to see Aura raise her silver device to eye level and fire it. Instead of a miniature ball like the one Kaze had fired, from the barrel of this little cannon burst a blast of raw lightning energy, which hit Garland and knocked him off balance.

Kumo, seeing his chance, darted forward again, but as he was about to strike, Garland's crude blade thrust forward, taking the young teen off guard.

And the strike connected.

Garland's blade struck the helpless Kumo squarely beneath the diaphragm, transfixing him.

Kumo gave a short cry and let his sword slip from nerveless hands, clattering against the cracked tile floor. Sneering, Garland kicked his victim, dragging his sword from Kumo's body. The swordsman crumpled to the ground, his eyes shut loosely, his hands tucked to his belly as if to cover the wound. Blood coursed over his fingers, between them, spreading in a low pool under his body.

Kiri, who like the others had stared horrified as Garland attacked, snapped into action. His eyes glowing, he shot at the evil knight with a cry of hatred and loss, swinging his heavy broadsword with all the strength he could muster.

His blow connected at Garland's neck, sending his head flying, face locked in a perpetual ghastly grin. The twitching corpse fell against the nightlike crystal and disappeared, but the party paid it scant notice.

Kiri stood breathing raggedly, then sheathed his great sword after slashing once to clear the blade of blood. Trembling slightly, he walked unsteadily to his brother's side. Aura and Kaze still stood frozen, but Lisa too ran to kneel next to Kumo.

The wound was bad and the bloodstain on the tile spreading quickly. Kumo's face was already pale as death, and his breathing was coarse and uneven. It was clear that he didn't have long.

"No..." Kiri whispered, stroking his little brother's soft hair. "Please... don't leave me here..."

Lisa roughly rolled Kumo to his back, pressed both hands to his fading heart, and let the light inside her rush out until she thought she would burst. As her palms began to glow, she let out a frantic scream: "LIFE!"

Even as she said it, the wound flickered and filled, becoming only a shallow slice out of Kumo's skin; painful but nowhere near fatal. At the same moment, Kumo's back arched inwards and he let out a sobbing gasp for breath, his chest heaving.

Kiri glanced at Lisa, surprisedshe'd slumped backwards, exhaustedthen turned his attention back to his brother. "Kumo-chan? Ototo? Are you...?"

"Niisama...?" Kumo asked weakly. Kiri swept his brother into his arms and held him with a fierce love that bespoke how close he knew he'd come to losing his dear one.

Kaze and Aura both stared at Lisa, looking impressed. "So you _are _useful after all." Although Aura's tone was joking, her voice was shaking. "That's _powerful _white magic. Why didn't you tell us about this before?"

Lisa gave her friend a bleary-eyed look that communicated how much she _really _did not want to talk at the moment.

They were saved from the awkwardness of the moment when little Princess Sarah started to wake. The small girl sat up woozily and scrubbed her blue eyes with the knuckles of her delicate hand. Slowly, she looked around the room, taking in everyone who stood there, as well as Garland's absence. "You saved me...?" Her voice was soft and hesitant, and her slow manner of speech was not unlike her father's. "That's the first time anyone's _ever _defeated Garland. Please, allow me to take you back to Cornelia to show my thanks!"

* * *

_(Aura)_

The king had been so grateful, he'd sent one of his men off to begin repairing the bridge to the next continent at once. Even his snooty chancellor fairly sang our praises. Sarah, nearly in tears (either from thankfulness or the fact that we were leaving), gave Kumo the lute of the royal house, with the explanation that it might help us in our quest.

Lisa, who collapsed once we left the palace, is asleep. Kaze, sitting against a nearby tree, might not seem to care much, but I can tell that he is watching her to make sure she's alright. Kiri, too, is sleepinghe didn't even make it to his bedroll but is curled up on the ground with the tight wad of futon under his head as a makeshift pillow. Kumo, like me, is still wide awake. He's sitting and staring into the fire, his soft-toned eyes seeming to be lit from within by the reflection of the embers.

It's my guess that what almost happened to him today is starting to sink in. If not for Lisa, he would be dead right now; it's questionable if Lisa even knew what she was doing when she healed him. She has a straightforward mindset and wouldn't hide something like that... or would she?

At any rate, it's Kumo that I'm worried about. The rest of us are in our later teens, considered adults at home... capable of making our own choices within our destinies. But him... he's young, and sweet-natured, and _very _sheltered from the realities of life. A trip like this is going to take a heavy toll on his innocent heart. As young as he is, he's going to be forced to grow up.

He already is.

I can see it in his eyes, behind the blank mirrors of carefully schooled calmness. For perhaps the first time in his life, he's really afraid.

And according to the legends passed down in our village from mother to daughter, he should be.


	3. Pravoka

Nascent

Disclaimer be in Part I

Author's Note: Yo! How you doin?

Ayumu(Osaka)-like comments aside, it looks like Nascent is starting to get off the drawing board. I just wrote out some EXTREMELY sketchy story outlines last night, and you're gonna love what I've got waiting for you. Kaze fangirls (and fanboys) will enjoy what I'm going to be doing with the Magun, and events in the far far future will shock and scandalize you. Perhaps even scar you for life. Unless, that is, you have an open mind. Bwa ha ha. And just you wait till the meeting with Bahamut-sama...

This isn't going to be a story centralized around just one or two of the characters (I hope). Each of them has his or her own secrets to hide and realize, and I -WILL- try to keep Kumo-chan from stealing the spotlight, as he tends to do because he's my favorite. (It's not like he'd steal it on purpose... I shove him there... you know him, he always acts like "Everyone else is more important than I am" and means it, sincerely, without rancor or jealousy... he has a Colette complex.)

Today's pluggy story is... (drumroll) "Memoirs: His Brother and His Homeworld" by XiaoBai-sempai! Once again, it's a prime example of Kumo-centric angst. It takes a look at XiaoBai-sempai's theories about Kumo-chan's past, which are quite different from what I usually portray (I go by the show's statement that Kumo-chan and Kiri-kun are Taoist and use that religion's values as a basis for their lives, while sempai seems to have created her own version of things, which is actually quite interesting). While I have no idea _where _sempai dredged up the name that Kiri goes by in "Memoirs", it's still a very good story and deserves readers' attention.

Oh, and FYI: I did not make up the fact that the boys are Taoists. Square gave me that. The translation of Kiri's title, "Madoushi", is "Demon Taoist" (or "Magic Taoist" depending on how you translate the "ma" prefix). Believe me, I know -tons- of random and potentially worthless information about those two (from their title translations to the meanings of their names to their dominant hands to what their design differences say about them), all dredged up from Episode 18, which I have watched so many times that I can recite it scene by scene, line by line from memory. I swear. And I will sometime. I love having almost the entire run of FF:U on DVD.

Hakushaku wa nanto nanto bakana!

Review plz.

* * *

_(Kiri)_

Even though we've been walking for an hour, I still feel half-asleep. Man, I _hate _this early-morning journey shit. In case you can't tell, I am NOT exactly a morning person!

I want to complain, but I have a bit more sense than that. Since Kaze and Aura and even poor beat-up Lisa are being stoic, I'd just look like an idiot if I did. So I won't.

And as for my brother...

Kumo is quiet, even more so than usual. He's staring fixedly ahead with a slightly worried expression, his mouth in a tight line, dark streaks beneath his eyes. He's been up all night... he tends to look like this whenever he does that. But even so... he's in worse state than he'd be for just a little insomnia.

I slowly head over to him, wait to match my walking rhythm with his, and put an arm around his shoulders, pulling him close to me. "You really scared me yesterday," I tell him honestly. "For a moment I thought I'd lost you..."

He nods, just a tiny bob of the head that one of the others might not catch. When he replies, his voice is hoarse. "I thought I'd lost me, too."

I knew that was what had been bothering him. "It's okay now, though." I lower my voice to nearly a whisper, speaking into his ear. "You're alive... you're alright. Lisa managed to get you out of that situation in one piece. Even though the whole thing took ten years off my life."

Kumo smiles. It's a small smile, and very strained, given with eyes both weary and afraid, but it's a smile. I return it and ruffle his hair.

"You have _got _to stop doing stuff like that. When you were really little, you were always sick, then when you were better you were either nearly breaking something cause you were so curst klutzy, or getting lost. Those were the days... I had to chase after you like my life depended on it."

The smile widens, and Kumo ducks his head, both embarrassed and laughing softly at himself. When he looks back up, he leans over and gives me a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thank you, Niisama."

I _really _hope I'm not blushing. "Yeah, yeah. Just don't do that ever again, okay? I want to have some of my life to live with my ototo... if you keep scaring the years out of me, I won't have all that many left." We both laugh at that one. "You were just so cute back then, you know? I'd always want to start complaining about what a pain in the tail you were, but then you'd look at me with those big eyes and I just couldn't anymore."

"Did I really?" Kumo's still laughing, and blushing a little too. I'm just glad he's stopped angsting. "I can't remember much of that."

"Oh, yeah. Little tagalong that you were... all it took was sad eyes and the way you'd look up at me and just say 'Oniichan...' I couldn't resist that face." I shake my head. "You were really manipulative... hey, by the way, you never call me that anymore. Any particular reason why?"

Kumo sighs, his smile becoming wistful. "I guess... over the years, we just grew too far apart... 'Oniichan' feels too informal, and I've gotten used to saying 'Niisama'..."

I take his hand and squeeze it tightly. "It's okay. Besides, we've been fixing all that. The disagreement we had... it's all behind us."

Aura looks back over her shoulder with a slightly irritated look. "Hey, lovebirds! Knock it off with the mushy babble already, you're going to make me sick. There's a cave up ahead... we're going to take a break there, if that's alright with you."

"Yeah, it's perfectly fine," I tell her, a little irritated. "Kumo-chan doesn't look too good, anyway. I think maybe he needs a rest... Lisa too." The girl was sweating and stumbling; she didn't seem to be having too good a time there.

"We'll be there in a few minutes, so no more of this lovey-dovey crap. You're gonna make me barf."

When she turns away, I point a certain gesture at her back, to have my hand slapped by Kumo, who disapproves of that sign, though I can't imagine why.

Yes... rest!

* * *

The cave, instead of being dark and dank like the party had expected, was actually well-lit and seemed almost to have been polished clean.

After they'd been sitting and resting for a few minutes, Aura finally stated the obvious. "Someone lives here."

"Nooo, ya think?" Kiri retorted in a biting tone. He still hadn't forgiven her for making fun of his relationship with his brother. "What would we do without you, Lady All-Seeing?"

"Shut up." Still looking around, Aura frowned. "It seems like this is a woman's place."

"How can you tell?" Kumo wanted to know.

"Simple... even if you'd need to clean a little to keep the place sanitary, no guy would take such care to place these torches at such even intervals. Or sweep up the floor to make sure nothing nasty stays around. Nine out of ten guys are slobs, but ninety-nine out of a hundred women care about keeping where they live presentable."

"You're stereotyping," Kiri accused.

"I wouldn't talk if I were you. You sleep in the dirt, wear the same clothes for a week without washing them, and never do anything with your hair. Oniichan's every bit as bad."

Kiri glared, his face flaming. "I do not! And anyway, _Kumo _doesn't act at all like that."

"He's one of the ten percent of guys who care about cleanliness."

"Enough," Kaze said flatly, and both of them promptly shut up upon seeing the annoyed look on his face. Kiri, grimacing, turned to his brother.

"You feeling better?" Kumo nodded. "What about you, Lisa?"

The girl made a face. "I'm alright, I truly am. I just got a bit tired, that's all."

Aura, meanwhile, was consulting a map. "Well, we aren't far from the nearest town... it's a seaport called Pravoka, and it's close enough that we should reach it before sundown." She stood up and folded the thick rice paper away. "So should we go on ahead, do you think, or pay a visit to whoever lives here first?"

Kaze, too, stood. "Let's go. Social trivialities aren't that necessary."

"It's only polite to say hello after we've rested here," Kiri replied. "Besides, maybe the person who lives here knows something about this supposed crystal?"

"That's a good point," Kumo said softly, slowly getting to his feet. "We don't have to stay long."

"Only if she invites us to," Aura added with a nod, smiling a little. "And if she does, then it means we're sleeping in the dirt one less night. Ugh, I need a bath. A nice, long, hot bath."

"O for some soap and new clothes," Lisa agreed, standing with a groan.

"You're outvoted, oniichan," Aura informed Kaze, sauntering deeper into the cave. "Let's go."

With a grumble, the tall brunet followed, the others trailing after him.

* * *

The center of the cave was a well-lit, well-furnished area indeed. While a pair of enchanted brooms skirted around the chamber, sweeping away, an old woman fumbled around, hands brushing against the floor, as though she was searching for something. The five travelers looked at each other dubiously, then Aura headed forward and put a hand on the woman's shoulder.

"Who's there?" she asked venomously. "Blast it, I can't see a cursed thing without my crystal eye! How could I have lost it?"

"Is that what you're looking for, Obaasan?" Aura asked, kindness and respect in her voice. "A crystal eye... I don't think it's here, is it?"

"I knew exactly where it was until that young man came in here," the woman grumbled. "I hate to think what he did with my things while my back was turned! Oh, I never should have let him in!"

Aura bowed slightly. "Obaasan, my friends and I will listen for any news of a crystal eye that's been stolen. If we find it, we'll bring it back here... I promise." She walked off, heading back down the corridor. The others followed her, trying not to listen to the sudden stream of curses from the old woman's chamber.

* * *

"What exactly is a crystal eye?" Lisa wanted to know as the five of them got back to their journey.

"It's a magical artifact that allows even the blind to see," Aura explained. Lisa got the feeling that there was something she wasn't mentioning, but since she couldn't place the sensation, she kept her mouth shut. "Naturally, it has a lot of power, so serious sorcerors usually keep one to tap when they need it. Unfortunately, that sort of defeats the eye's original purpose... magi of old created it as a cure for blindness, back before the psychics began to teach the art of seeing with your mind."

"Oh." Lisa pulled a face. "So, then, that woman was..."

"Probably blind, yes," Aura finished for her. "She most likely depended on that eye. I wonder how she got it in the first place. Most of them have been destroyed."

"You seem to know a lot about this," Lisa said slowly, frowning.

Aura smiled (was Lisa imagining it, or did it seem more crooked than usual?) and shook her head. "Oniichan and I had to learn about magical artifacts, since we use these." She tapped the miniature cannon at her belt. "You've probably never even seen one, have you? It's called a gun; they were used very commonly a long time ago. I use mine to cast spells with; Kaze just uses normal bullets." At the confused look on Lisa's face, Aura shook her head and went on. "I'll explain more about it later, when we have more time. Casting a gunspell turns your weapon into a magical artifact of sorts... we got curious, and learned more than our tutors normally would have taught us." When Aura stopped speaking, Lisa knew that the conversation was firmly over. There was something funny about all this.

"We're here," Kiri announced. The girls looked up, a little surprised.

The town they had arrived in was a seaport, all right. It was built almost right on the water, and was mostly taken up by the large harbor at the south side of town. There were a lot of people, but it didn't seem as though the bustle was as loud or boisterous as it should have been.

"What say we head for the inn and get some rest in real live beds?" the red-clad swordsman asked. "We might _even _be lucky enough to use a washbasin... you never know, do you?"

"Yes, let's." Aura groaned and stretched. "I need to get all this filth off my skin and actually brush my hair for once. It's probably in permanent waves now from being braided for so long."

"Please," Lisa seconded. And from the look on Kumo and Kiri's faces, there was no question about it. They would be staying the night before they even did any asking around.

* * *

The night had been sweet and relaxing after walking for so long.

Upon entering the room he shared with the other boys, Kaze promptly stripped naked beneath his cloak, collapsed onto the nearest bed, and was instantly asleep. No one had the heart to wake himor in Lisa's case, the courage. She wasn't exactly sure if she really wanted to see what tall, scarred, forbidding Kaze looked like sans clothing, though the others almost certainly had by now (Aura being his sister, the other guys being, well... guys). Not wanting to reveal her shyness, Lisa said nothing about the matter, not even when Kaze slept straight through dinner (crab cakes, lobster, and grilled shrimp, the inn specialties).

It turned out that the inn itself had not just a washbasin, but a room with a wide bath, used by tapping the seawater and an underground spring. Aura and Lisa could not get enough of the little room, and washed their hair until Aura's was perfectly straight and Lisa's soft and shiny.

After the girls were finally dislodged, Kiri and Kumo went in. They didn't only take the time to soak; Kiri also used the opportunity to help his little brother change the bandages wrapped tightly around his waist, which bound the flesh wound that was all that remained of the fatal blow he had been dealt days before. He did so with a sweet and gentle tenderness that people other than Kumo rarely saw, words of comfort accompanying every movement.

Lisa, tucked tightly into her bed, had a quiet, restful night, free for once of worrying for her safety or the others'. There was no sound other than her breathing, Aura's, and the soft moaning of a nearby pair of lovers, apparently making the most of their stay in what Lisa fervently hoped was a private room.

This town truly seemed to be a wonderful place.

* * *

However, in the morning...

The hushed, worried countenance of the townspeople was more apparent than ever. They seemed to skitter about like frightened mice, keeping their heads and voices down as if hoping to avert some great calamity about to fall upon them.

"What's with these people?" Kiri mused under his breath. "You'd think they'd feel safe in their own city..." Aura, standing next to him, elbowed him with an angry look on her face, but Kiri shook his head. "It's true, you know. You'd think they'd at least show a little backbone..."

"Would you, if you were in our position?" a young man who'd been passing by asked him snappishly.

"What position?" Kiri asked him, planting both hands on his hips.

"The pirates!" the youth exploded, seeming both embarrassed and furious. "The ones who are leeching all the life out of our city!"

Kiri's eyebrows went up and down once, and after a short pause, he gave a slow smile that made him seem positively demonic. "And tell me, then... where are these pirates of yours?"

Catching some idea of what he meant to do, Lisa gaped at him. "You can't be serious! Pirates will tear you apart if you even try to fight them!"

Kiri gave her a look and she shut up. "I think we'll be the judge of that when we get there, shall we?"

Despite Kumo's reassurances to everyone that his brother was truly quite capable of dealing with a few hired thugs, Lisa and the young local still looked doubtful. However, after a short dispute, the boy finally caved in, pointing over to a large building in the northwest corner of the town.

With another vaguely demonic smile, Kiri cracked his knuckles and headed off towards the indicated area. The rest of the party exchanged exasperated, helpless, and bemused looks, then slowly followed him.

By the time they got there, it already seemed that Kiri had succeeded in setting off the "thugs", for a man with a bushy red beard was already shouting for his hangers-on to jump the lone swordsman. Lisa let out a short cry, but Kumo put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head.

"Niisama knows what he's doing," he told her for the eighth time. "Just watch."

The eight junior pirates had formed a ring of snickering cutlasses and yellow-toothed jeers around Kiri, who slowly unsheathed his crimson broadsword.

"Can't you fight like decent men at all?" he taunted, waving the tip of his weapon in the air as if to tease them. "Come on, one of you come out here and just try to take me down... if you're not afraid, that is."

Two pirates reddened and growled, launching forward out of the ring.

"Guess not," Kiri said ruefully, shaking his head. As the two grimy thugs came pelting towards him, he planted his feet shoulder-width apart and held his sword before him as though it were a shield. Just as they leaped, the crimson blade flashed in a swift perfect circle, leaving both of them groaning on the ground, clutching bleeding chests laid open to the ribs. Kiri, smirking coolly, bowed to them, propping up his sword on his shoulder. "Ittenju-jutsu style Ryu-Kiba no Yubiwa. Come on... I expected you to be better than _that."_

The wounded pirates scooted away, but three of their fellows came dashing up in their place.

Kiri shook his head tragically. "They never learn," he said with a wry grin at his brother. He dashed at them and suddenly seemed to evaporate into a red haze; the only way to tell what he was doing were the broad stripes of crimson and the spilled blood scattering around the area.

The red swordsman emerged from the maelstrom unscathed, touching down almost delicately and looking over his shoulder at the pirates. "Ittenju-jutsu style Aka-Arashi no Ryu-Kami. You are a decidedly lousy bunch. I don't know why I'm even bothering dealing with you. Enough of the bumpkins who live around here could finish you on their own."

Another pirate danced forward just as Kiri stopped speaking. This one seemed to have some skill; the two of them locked blades for a few moments, and Kiri smiled briefly... not mockingly, but as though he was enjoying the fight. Then, he flashed forward, spun the unsuspecting pirate, and carved the man's sword out of his hand, smacking him dead in the head with the flat of his blade.

"Ittenju-jutsu style Ryu-Tsume no Kizuna," he said with a smile. "It's been a while since I used that one. For a second there, I thought you'd block me." Turning back to the head pirate, he plastered a cheeky expression on his face and held up a V-for-victory sign. "Well? You got any..ugh!" The sole remaining pirate flunky had snuck up behind Kiri with a small dagger when the swordsman wasn't paying attention, and slashed him across the back. Caught off-guard, Kiri crumpled, cursing.

It happened in a white flash... no one was clear of what had happened until a few moments after, when they began to grasp that Kumo, breathing raggedly, stood with a bloody sword over the shredded body of the treacherous pirate.

Quietly, the fifteen-year-old slashed his blade in the air and resheathed it at the back of his belt, looking down at the dead man almost scornfully. "Ittenju-jutsu style Shi no Shiroi-Ryu." Anxiety spreading across his features, he turned and knelt beside his brother. "Are you okay, Niisama?"

"Yeah..." Kiri winced, looking up into Kumo's panicky jadeine eyes. "It's not much more than a scratch, and he didn't hit anything important. I'll be fine. That was stupid of me..."

The pirates' leader was staring at the brothers as if they had suddenly revealed themselves to be the gods of swordsmanship. "I-I... I... I... I'm sorry!"

Kaze, Aura, and Lisa made their way down to their companions, forming a protective circle around them. "You should be," Aura growled.

"I, er..." The pirate bowed his head. "I'd... I'd like you to take me ship fer yer troubles. C-can ye find it in yer heart to fergive an old pirate?"

"Why should we-" Aura began, but Kumo, standing, cut her off, smiling.

"Of course!" He bowed to the red-haired pirate captain, practically glowing with sheer innocence and purity. "Thank you for the ship... it will certainly help us in our journeys. Just remember to stay on your new path!" He bowed again, then went back to aid Kiri in his efforts to stand up.

"Naturally, we can trust your word?" Kiri asked wryly, using Kumo's gentle pulls to lever himself up.

"O course!" the pirate said, looking like he meant it. "Me mates and I'll buckle down an' be the hardest workers in town! Ye'll see!"

"Good," the swordsman replied. "Now... do we have any bandages left over? I'm ruining my shirt."

Aura shook her head and spread her hands wide. "You are _hopeless!"_

"Thanks ever so much," Kiri replied. "Bandages."

* * *

_(Kiri)_

I try not to flinch as Kumo gently smears antiseptic on the long cut across my back. He's being careful, but it still stings like hell. I don't want to go weak; after all, it was my fault that I got sliced.

Finished with the cream, my little brother wraps soft bands of linen around my waist. The irony of the moment makes me smile bitterly... I was doing this for him, only last night.

"Your swordsmanship is so beautiful," he tells me with a sigh. "I hope that I'll be able to strike like you someday soon."

I can't help but smile. "I may have the power, but you're the one who's graceful. You should see yourself when you fight... you look like a dancer. Father would've been so proud."

Kumo sighs and gives me a gentle hug from behind. "It still hurts," he whispers into my shoulder. "Even though I can barely remember him, it still hurts."

He's right; there's still an ache, an empty space left from our father's premature death. Left maimed from a fight with powerful monsters just after Kumo had been born, he'd finally succumbed to his injuries a little more than ten years ago. Even so, I can vividly remember Father's dark flashing eyes, his painful smile, his pride and confidence in our abilities.

"I know, Kumo-chan. I know..."

"Kiri?"

I can't help but be a little surprised, feeling my heart jump almost unpleasantly in my chest. Rarely does my brother ever call me by my name without the honorific attached; he didn't even do that when we were young, before... everything happened. I turn carefully so as not to strain my wound, and put my arms around Kumo, who is staring at me with large, wistful eyes.

"Kiri?"

I put a finger to his lips to quiet him, then hold him as tightly as I possibly can.

Our hearts are beating in perfect rhythm.


	4. Sidetracked

Nascent

Disclaimer be in Part I

Author's Note: W00t. Tales of Symphonia ish t3h r0x0r. But Mom stole my controller cause she's mad at me... sad...

Anyway. Fanfiction news is as such: My big FF:U ficcy entitled "A Time to Reflect" is ALMOST done. Almost. Why is this important? Because I found a loophole, and I'm bringing the boys back... (stadium of fangirls erupts in happy cheers and sobs) (grin). That's what it feels like to me, anyway. That's where you're going to see what it is (once it's up, of course). I am also thinking of starting a "Final Fantasy: Unlimited Fanfiction University" in which I will post my new one-shots, reader requests, and even contributions from fellow authors. (nudge nudge, wink wink) I'm really getting an itch to write about my fan charas (Hoshi, Arashi, Heart, and Sakaratte), and you might find their stories interesting too...

In other news, if my dad is actually keeping a promise he's made, I should have a copy of Huta no Kizuna arriving sometime soon. Imported. From Japan. In Japanese. I can't read kanji myself, but my mom has a friend who can, so I'm hoping she can translate... I'm trying to be patient, but all the same, I'm pretty happy. Teehee.

Today's Story-To-Plug is another of XiaoBai-sempai's: "Dilemma for the Cloud", which is rather R-rated but still a good read for mature people... it seems to be on hiatus at the moment, but hopefully she'll update it one of these days. "Dilemma" casts a considerably darker look on the FF:U worlds... Kumo, guilt-stricken because of what happened to Aura twelve years ago, tries desperately to keep Kaze alive and evade the attention of the Earl and company as he does so. To complicate things, he's starting to have feelings for Kaze... which is not good. Why? Well, for one thing, half the reason the Earl is keeping him around is to be his slave... yes, _that _kind of slave. For another, the little bastage is beginning to get suspicious... and having to deal with Kaze along with being raped (and over and over, too) is starting to cause a lot of strain for poor Kumo-chan... this is a very angsty piece, as well as a good one, but what the Earl is doing is pretty disturbing, even I'll admit. However, we've been promised some good Kaze/Kumo in the future, so we can hope.

Yet another FYI: There seems to be a lot of confusion as to Kaze and Aura's relationship. A lot of authors who have apparently not listened hard enough during Episode 25 are hooking the two of them up. To all of them and everyone else who is doubtful, Aura is Kaze's sister. They cleared that up in the dubbed, although it wasn't mentioned in the original subbed. End of story. No more Kaze/Aura. Unlike Kiri/Kumo, that is a sibling relationship that just plain does not work. Thank you Square and ADV.

Story time...

* * *

_(Kaze)_

Now that we have acquired a boat, we're on our way again.

Little Kumo has spent days doing nothing but sitting up in the crow's nest; sometimes asleep and sometimes awake. At times, I wonder what he thinks of, alone up there. By the expression on his face, he is not always comfortable with the solitude.

Kiri has done most of the steering and the maintenance of the ship; after a day or so of being uproariously seasick, Aura has assisted him. Lisa has slept all this time, or cast fishing nets.

And I... can do nothing while the pulsing ache in my arm continues to spread.

The others don't know... only Aura. There is little I can manage without exposing my secret, and little enough anyway that can be done with one hand. I've tried to help in every way I am able, but there is still... some sense of uselessness. I cannot help them fight or operate machinery...

What, then, am I here for? With this cursed pain, the slow decay that only the crystal I hold can slow... what is my purpose on this quest?

What would I do if there was no reason?

Our ship is drawing into port now; Kiri's sharp eyes have spotted a village by the open harbor. By my memories of the world as taught to me in my youth, it is called Elfheim, and is built in a similar fashion to Cornelia, with a small wooden keep at the center of the village.

It is here where we shall make our berth...

* * *

After leaving the ship behind, the party straggled through the nearby forests towards the little village of Elfheim. Tired and still trying to recover their motor skills after being stuck on a rolling ship for a week, they didn't speak, just walked in grim silence. After their failure to retrieve news of a crystal in Pravoka, a sense of hopelessness had settled over them... would they ever be able to reach their destination? Was everything that had happened to them mere coincidence, with no higher fate involved? Were there really answers to their questions about their selection as the "heroes"?

Beyond that, they had their own crosses to bear; Kumo was still slightly shaken by his brush with death at the Chaos Shrine, Kiri berating himself for his stupidity while fighting the pirates, Kaze brooding about his supposed uselessness, Aura unusually silent and murmuring occasionally about the old woman's crystal eye, and Lisa trying to beat off memories of her attack by Garland.

It was a wonder that they even noticed when they'd drifted into town.

A pair of youths who had been camped out by the village entrance jumped up and offered to escort the weary travelers to the local inn. Kiri quickly accepted for them, and off they went.

The local woodland stew served to perk the party's spirits up a little, and while the others were busy eating, Aura asked the young waitress, who seemed pleasant and sociable, about the little village.

"This place is called Elfheim, right? Village of the last elves in the world?" The young woman nodded with a smile. "It seems so nice out here. Life must be good."

"Actually..." The girl grimaced. "Lately there's been a little trouble in these parts. A group of elves turned dark a while ago, and their leader, Astos, put our prince under a curse. He's been... sleeping for some time now, deep in a coma. The castle doctor hasn't been able to do anything about it, nor any of our mages."

"Oh..." Aura shook her head. "That's definitely not good." She turned around and elbowed Lisa, who had just set down her wooden spoon. "Hey, you can cast white magic, right?" Lisa blanched. "Why don't you take a look at him?"

"Actually, that was... um... I don't really... eheheh... it was kind of, um, spur-of-the-moment back there... I know I have the _potential _to heal, but... you know... I never really learned. I was lucky that the spell even worked."

_"Really." _Kiri gave the girl a sidelong look. Lisa was blushing, stammering, and giving an odd, slightly tone-deaf laugh... it was _obvious _that she was trying to hide something. "Well, when you want to tell us the _truth, _feel free to do so anytime."

Lisa gave him a hurt glance. "I really do have trouble with magic," she said defensively. "I don't know why I tried to cast a high-level healing on Kumo back there, but we should _all _be glad I did, because if I hadn't, he'd be dead, so there."

Kiri rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever. Well, when you want to tell us the _rest _of that little story, like I said, you can feel free to do that whenever you have the time. It's obvious that you're getting rather flustered about this."

"It's alright," the local said, pushing a strand of strawberry-blonde hair behind her ear (which, they noticed, tapered into a tiny point at the tip). "White mages have already examined the prince... none of them have had any success in finding out how to wake him."

"If we hear anything that'll help your prince, we'll let you know," Kumo assured the girl, pushing back his large wooden bowl with a sigh.

* * *

After the party had spent a night in Elfheim, they decided to head on to the north in order to seek out more news about crystals.

"No matter what, we have to keep going," Kiri explained to Lisa as they headed around the bends of a river. "We have to know the reason we were born with these things, and why the legends of our homes sent us out at this specific time. When we compared stories, we realized that our crystals stopped glowing at different times. Kumo's went first, but our mother and I refused to let him go until mine went out; Aura's was next; Kaze's followed hers by about a day, and mine stopped glowing at _precisely _the right time for us to run into each other while traveling and realize that we were supposed to go together. Now, I don't like putting a lot of stock in Fate, but even I honestly believe that this has to be more than random chance. There are too many coincidences. We have to know for certain what in the world we're supposed to do."

"As for tonight, though, I think it's seriously time to hit the sack," Aura said mid-yawn, edging back to where they were walking. "I think there's an old stone keep up ahead... it'll be damp, but way better than sleeping in the dirt or on that gods-curst ship."

"Maybe someone will be living there...?" Lisa suggested hopefully.

_"There?" _Kiri pointed to a large, decrepit-looking stone building. "You've gotta be joking. That place is so old and evil-looking, I doubt that even little mice hang around there for long."

Despite his words, however, they were greeted at the entrance of the old castle by a middle-aged man with curly black hair and a curly black beard, dark eyes, and royal-looking robes.

"Welcome," the stranger said. "Although, I am afraid, I do not have much hospitality to offer, you may make yourselves at home here for the night."

"Um, thanks," Aura replied, looking around as he led them into his own chamber, the only place in the whole building that was entirely intact. "If... you don't mind my asking... what in the world happened here?"

The man sighed. "I had a feeling one of you would ask that, lass," he told her, sounding melancholy. "The truth is, I was once the king of this place, back in the days when this old keep was a glorious castle. But some time ago, I was tricked by the dark elf Astos into handing over my crown, which held the magics of this place intact. Now I am liege and lord no longer, and my halls have fallen into disrepair. My only hope is for someone of courage and strength to retrieve the crown, which has been hidden in Marsh Cave, a dank hole on the southern end of this continent."

"If you got it back, you could fix everything, then?" Lisa asked.

"I believe I could, if only I had the crown. That way, I could combat Astos' dark curses and bring back new people to defend and cause my kingdom to flourish."

"We'll do it," Kiri said promptly.

Kaze and Kumo gave him identically skeptical looks.

"It's not like we're having any success at our current quest," he told them flatly. "And besides... maybe if we help this guy, he'll be able to help us in return."

"I am deeply obliged to you," the black-haired man said, bowing slightly to Kiri. "For tonight, why don't you stay in here? I shall retire to one of the smaller rooms." He bowed again and left, closing the door behind him.

_"Why _did you have to do that?" Kumo hissed as soon as the heavy stone ground together.

"Why are you being so weird about it?" Kiri retorted. "It's easy... all we'll have to do is go down, nab the guy's crown, and get back here. Besides, he might know something he's not telling. What's wrong with you?"

Kumo shook his head, frowning. "It's just... I've got a strange feeling about all of this. Even now... it feels like we're all being watched."

"Okay, _now _you're being silly," Aura said, clapping the white-haired boy on the shoulder. "Don't be paranoid. It's just a short little favor, like Kiri said."

"I don't know..." Kumo persisted, shaking his head again. "I don't like this feeling."

"But we're trying to help someone," Lisa put in. She turned shyly to the black-cloaked figure behind all of them. "Kaze...? What's your opinion?"

The brunet shrugged one shoulder restlessly, looking around. "I don't care."

"You're outvoted, ototo-chan," Kiri informed his little brother. "We do it."

Kumo sighed and settled for ranging around the room, restless and agitated.

* * *

They set out for Marsh Cave as soon as they'd eaten, with brief goodbyes to the keep's lord and a little bit of picking up before they went. A few minutes into the trek, Kumo started to have a strange expression and kept putting a hand to his temples, as if to ward something off.

"What's the matter now?" Aura asked with a sigh.

"It's the same feeling, like someone's watching us from somewhere," he murmured. "Only now, it's much worse... it's making my head hurt..."

"Are you sure you don't just have a migraine?" Aura retorted, sounding skeptical. "C'mon. We've got stuff to do and you're lagging."

"I'm sorry..." Kumo hurried a few steps forward to keep in time with the others, but the perturbed look on his face didn't go away.

"If you've really got such a bad feeling about it, then let's hurry and get this thing over with," Kiri said softly, rubbing his little brother's shoulder. "Ganbatte, ne?"

"Unn," Kumo replied, but the tormented expression remained.

Marsh Cave was exactly as the strange lord had described ita dank little hole in the ground that led to a nasty labyrinthine system of tunnels. Aura picked up a rough piece of wood near the entrance and shot it, making the tip flame into red-gold light.

"We'd better get going, then," she said grimly.

"I'll lead," Kiri told the others. "I got us into this. I'll get us out. Besides... I have a pretty good sense of direction. Ototo-chan, you guard the back, okay?"

Kumo nodded, though his eyes were shut tightly and his hand was still surgically attached to his forehead. Kiri, giving him a worried look, tapped Aura on the shoulder as they started to head down.

"I need to ask a favor."

"What?" the gunmage asked him in a quiet voice.

"Kumo-chan still isn't doing too well. He'd never admit it if I asked him to his face, but I think he may actually be too weak to help us with this. Just look at him... there's really something wrong. Stay back with him and try to keep an eye on him. If he gets much worse, take his place. Please... I'm really worried about him..."

Aura nodded, giving him a little smile. "I'll do the best I can."

And so they started into the cave.

The way was long, dark, and very wet; the air became thicker and harder to breathe as they went farther and farther down. And what was worse... they kept coming into contact with groups of wild monsters.

Giant scorpions, spiders, and undead had Marsh Cave completely overrun.

As Kiri had predicted, Kumo quickly became incapable of anything more than stumbling blindly forward. Aura quietly stepped back with him in order to keep him on the right path and fulfil the duties he could not, though she didn't say anything to him directly.

Eventually, the party was able to make its way to a little chamber at the bottom floor of the underground cavern. In the center of the room was an antique-looking treasure chest.

"Ten to one this is it," Kiri breathed. "But it can't be that easy."

"Define 'easy'," Aura muttered.

"Don't jinx us," Lisa pleaded at the same time.

The crimson swordsman walked straight up to the chest and kicked it open, then jumped back just as a minor demon leaped out. He dispatched the creature with an easy swipe of his sword, then headed back up and carefully picked a moldy brass crown from the chest. "Booby-trapped," he said grimly. "We've got the crown, so let's get out of here. Nobody touch that box; the next monster might not be so easy to kill."

In grim silence, the five of them headed back, slowly crawling back up the passageways of the labyrinth. Once again, their progress was halted by battles with minor monsters; Aura, deciding that the danger from the rear was relatively mild, stopped paying attention to what was behind her and instead assisted the others in weeding out the monsters to their fore and sides.

Just as they reached the carven stairs to the outside...

"Niisama! Look out!"

Kiri whirled and cried out; Kumo had launched himself in front of a blow intended for his brother's unprotected back. The scorpion that had snuck up behind them had buried its stinger in Kumo's side instead. The white-clad swordsman gave a faint gasp of pain and crumpled, collapsing into a pale heap on the cavern floor.

"You...!" Kiri, infuriated, impaled the beast with his crimson blade, then dropped to his knees beside Kumo. His little brother was unconscious, breathing shallowly, and sweating profusely. Although his body was slightly warm to the touch, his skin was unnaturally pale, with a touch of blue at the tips of his fingers and his lips.

"Let's get him into the light," Lisa murmured. "Out of this place..."

* * *

_(Kaze)_

We carry Kumo outside, then stop and set up a temporary camp.

"This is my fault," my sister is saying. "You told me to keep an eye on him... and I wasn't guarding the rear like I should have been..."

"Later," Lisa insists, cutting her off. "You can feel guilty later. Now we just have to figure out what's wrong, and help him!"

"It's some kind of poison," Kiri announces, shaking his head. "One that I've never seen before. I'm going to try to suck it out of his blood..." He bends to press his lips to Kumo's wound.

"Stop that." I shove him out of the way, trying not to disturb my right arm. "You'll just get the cut infected that way, and you may contract the poison as well." Kiri makes an annoyed noise, but I ignore him and roll Kumo gently to his back, pulling his eyes open. They are wide, unfocused, and very black. "Dilated pupils... and a heightened temperature and pulse. He's in real danger. Lisa..."

She shakes her head, looking tearful. "Didn't you hear me before when I said I can't cast magic! Besides, I don't know of any spells that can cure poison!"

"Then we must get him to Elfheim, and quickly. Detoxification is a race against time. If we stay here, it may be too late."


	5. Price of an Antidote

Nascent

Disclaimer be in Part I

Author's Note: Oooh, cliffhanger! (grin, dodges bricks) Heheh. Do I have you curious about any of the characters' little secrets yet? (grin grin grin) I hope so. It's going to be a fun ride from here on out, so hang on and let's get going.

Story to plug of the day... "Hoshi no Suna" by L1v. Yet ANOTHER fanfiction of Kumo-centric angst! This one focuses on Kumo's relationship with Kiri and the deep depression he suffers daily while trying to deal with other matters, such as the Earl and stupid Oscha and a rogue piece of Omega he's charged with finding. The wording is a little clunky in places, but this is still a good story that's worth looking into. The great many flashbacks revolving around the boys are very sweet as well. (grin)

So go ahead and review that one, as well as this! RAR! Teeheehee! Story time!

---

_(Kumo)_

Through the haze of pain and the detached, floating sensation, it's hard to figure out what in the world is going on.

I remember well how I hurled myself in the way of the monster's attack in order to save my brother's life. And then the pain... but after that, it all seemed to fade into darkness.

I can hear snatches of slurred voices around me, but I can't tell who's talking or what exactly they're saying. I think... that it may be my brother.

I hope...

Two figures take shape in the haze around me. They are tall, with long white hair and piercing eyes; one set golden-blue, the other green-brown, also gold-flecked.

And suddenly, I know. These people are...

I slowly begin to speak, almost out of my own accord. Almost since birth, I have been trained to recite the according prayers upon my meeting with them.

"My lords, if it is truly time, then take my soul in painless passage. Nallorn, guide me through thy realm and grant me refuge from tortured dreams. Gaedrian, take me to see the crest of our world before you bring me to my place of final rest...

"I beg of you, as your child and your servant, guide me now through death..."

---

Though Kumo's lips moved, no sound escaped them.

Kiri, however, went bloodlessly white. "The death prayer," he said softly. "Kumo is... he's reciting the death prayer of our people...!" He whirled and fixed the elven healer with an anguished, panicking stare. "Please... please... there isn't much time left...! You have to do something, or he'll...!"

The young man shook his head. "The spells are already in place, and we'll use every natural cure we know. You were lucky to get him here so quickly. This way, we'll actually have a chance of saving him, however slim it is..."

Lisa's knees promptly gave out, and she collapsed with a thunk against the wood floor. "Thank God," she managed weakly. "Kaze, you... you've saved him!"

The brunet shook his head. "Common sense." He strode forward, looking almost businesslike, and laid a hand on Kumo's forehead. "He's getting feverish." His cerulean eyes fixed the healer with a piercing glare. "Hurry..."

"Yes, yes." The elf waved a hand. "Get out of here, so I'll have the space to work."

The four of them retreated, leaving the small wooden building. The village of the elves was quiet in the twilight, with young men and women watching from doorways.

"This was a setup," Kiri growled, still white-faced. "I'm sure of it. All of this... the king, this stupid quest, everything... Kumo could sense it from the beginning, and now he's..."

"Wait," Lisa began timidly. "Maybe... we don't really know what's going on here, after all. So shouldn't we go and try to...?"

"I doubt it," Aura cut her off. "But we should still try to wring some answers out of that man. Why he wanted the crown so badly, or if it was all just some weird ruse to kill people for fun."

"I should like to talk to him as well," Kaze rumbled.

Lisa shook her head. "If you do, then... I think I should stay here," she said miserably. "There'll be fighting and yelling and arguments and I... I'm just going to get in the way."

"Lisa... that's..." Aura grimaced. It was true and all of them knew it.

"I'll stay here and look after Kumo," the black-haired girl said with a sad smile. "Go on, now. And be careful..."

"We will," Aura told her, then dashed after Kaze and Kiri, who were already halfway out of the village, grim-faced and vengeful.

---

The strange lord looked up as the three young warriors burst into the keep, stone-faced and furious.

"Did you get it? Do you have my crown?"

Kiri looked like he was going to explode. "Why the hell should we tell you-"

Aura held up a hand, cutting him off. "Wait. Let _me _handle this one, okay?"

Kiri and Kaze looked at each other, confused, as Aura strode forward, her hand on her hip, holding out the moldy old crown between thumb and forefingers. "You want this?"

The lord made a grab, but Aura yanked it up. "Afraid I can't give it to you, sir."

The black-haired man's face quickly turned red, then purple. "And why not!"

"Because it doesn't belong to you, does it?" Aura asked mildly.

"How...?" the man gasped, and shut his mouth quite firmly.

"This crown hasn't sat on anyone's head for several hundred years," Aura informed him. "And I seriously doubt, sir, that you've lived that long. And where, pray tell, did you get _this _pretty here?" She pointed with her free hand to the opal orb on a chain around his neck.

"This... this is mine!"

"Who'd you steal it from?" Her voice sharpened to a razor edge. "It is not yours. The old sages would never have given _you _a crystal eye, and if I'm not mistaken, that's what it is."

The man's face started to go pale in blotches. "Matoya has no need of it!" he snapped, outraged.

Aura crossed her arms. "Matoya? That poor old herbalist who lives in a cave near Cornelia? You stupid bastard, she's _blind. _She needs that stone to see!" She marched forward, shaking a finger at him, as he stepped unevenly back. "You could never fool me. Ever since we retrieved the crown, I've been wondering... and now I'm certain. I know more about magical artifacts than any living creature on this world, and I know that neither of these items are yours. Give it up, Astos."

Astos gaped at her, then gibbered madly.

Kiri whistled, staring at Aura with eyebrows upraised. "Wow. Nice one."

"I'll be taking this crown back to the elves and the crystal back to Matoya," Aura said firmly. "But first... one of my friends has some revenge to take on you. You see, thanks to your clever little hijinks, his baby brother is very, very sick... and we don't like that, do we?" She nodded, and before Astos or Kiri could even blink, she and Kaze were standing on either side of the dark elf, with their guns' barrels pressed to his temples. "Kiri. It's your call. Do whatever you want with him."

The swordsman, overcoming his initial shock, smiled slowly and drew his red blade, giving the sickly-faced Astos an evil look. "Certainly."

---

"We've got his condition stabilized, but..." The healer shook his head. After dealing with Astos, Kiri and the others had returned to Elfheim to find Lisa near to tears and Kumo no better than before. "His chances of recovering are very slim. This poison is vicious, and without the antidote... we don't have anything like what would be needed to purify his body at this state. You'd have to go to a real herbalist to save him now."

Aura pulled out the opal she'd appropriated from Astos' corpse. "This belongs to Matoya," she said softly. "If we bring it back to her... maybe she'll be willing to give us some kind of antidote to heal Kumo..."

"Maybe," Kiri said, looking at his brother.

"But, Aura..." Kaze whispered, looking sad. "A crystal eye..."

She shook her head. "Matoya needs it much more than I do. Don't tempt me, Kaze. I would've given it back to her anyway."

Lisa and Kiri looked at the two of them, but decided not to ask.

A trace of the old crooked smile twitched at Aura's lips. "I'll explain everything once we're on our way. It isn't fair to keep you in the dark, after all."

Kiri nodded and turned to the healer. "How long...?" he asked bleakly.

The elf shook his head. "A week, perhaps, before he reaches the crisis point. This is a slow-acting venom once it's begun to show symptoms. And at the crisis? Perhaps a day."

"There's a port near Cornelia," Kaze told the others. "Let's go."

---

They were on their ship and sailing within the day.

"I still wish that you would use it," Kaze told his sister as the two of them joined the others abovedeck. "You've searched for one for so long..."

Aura's fists got a little tighter. "This one belongs to somebody," she snapped tersely.

"What is the deal with you and that crystal eye?" Kiri asked, apparently just wanting to get it up front and out before they had to do any maneuvering at the prow.

Aura let out a slow breath. "I wasn't born like this. Up until when I turned three, I was a perfectly normal kid, like every other perfectly normal kid in our village. But then, when I was barely more than a toddler, a scarlet fever epidemic hit us hard.

"I had it worse than anyone else. For a while there, everybody thought I was going to die. But destiny had other plans. A wandering healer who identified himself as the head of the Pacifist clan came through the village and his powers gave me the strength to overcome the illness. But... it wasn't without a price. Ever since I caught that scarlet fever strain... I've been blind."

Kiri and Lisa exchanged looks of disbelief, then stared back at Aura, dumbfounded. Blind? Then how could she wield her guns with such precision, such force, such...?

"It was pretty bad for a while," Aura went on. "Being unable to see... my brother had to lead me around. I depended completely upon him to survive until my senses and my coordination were sharp enough for me to move on my own. But I hated it, even though I'd learned to live with it. I wanted my sight back. I wanted to see Kaze's face, see my parents, see color and light and darkness again. The powers that'd been latent within me had awakened when the healer treated me, so I turned to them for an answer. I was trained by the most powerful men and women in our village to see with my mind instead of my eyes. Slowly, I got better and better at it... but it wasn't an ideal solution. With psychic sight, you have clarity, but... it leaves you colorblind. It's second-best, really.

"Like I already explained, my brother and I had to learn about magical artifacts to be allowed to carry these guns around. While researching, I heard about crystal eyes. If I had one, it would restore my natural sight as long as I wore it or tapped it. But most crystal eyes have been destroyed since their initial creation. My parents and Kaze and I have been trying to get news of one left intact for years. Matoya's is the first one I've ever seen, but as of now I'm pretty much the expert on crystal eyes and all other magical artifacts, so that's how I knew what it was. It's a really bad temptation to use it myself, just once, but... if I did, I wouldn't be able to stop. Matoya is completely blind without it. She needs it way more than I do. And... I might be able to find another one, someday, or even make my own. Stealing from the old and helpless isn't fair, no matter the motive.

"This is also why I grow my bangs into my eyes, by the way. The fever totally destroyed a lot of them, and... let's just say they aren't pleasant to look at. Kaze and my parents're the only ones who can stomach looking, so I don't inflict them on anyone else. Just in case, I keep my eyes closed, too. Kumo knows... or at least, he knows I'm colorblind. He asked me about my reaction to his hair color once at night... I had to confess it to him, I had no choice in that matter.

"But my stupid sob story doesn't really matter right now. This was already stolen from Matoya once, and besides... Kumo's life may hang in the balance here. Compared to that, I'm not important. And because I can see with my mind, I can afford to wait."

Aura fell silent, stood up, and swarmed up the rigging to the crow's nest.

Kiri and Lisa exchanged bewildered looks. "I... I had no idea," the black-haired girl managed to squeak, blinking.

Kiri shook his head. "Neither did I..." Both of them stared back up at Aura, who was looking fixedly out across the water, grim stubbornness on her face. "She's amazing."

"She's brave about it now, but..." Kaze looked up at his sister, watching the wind tease her braids. "She suffers," he said simply at last. "She... is a lot like your brother... and like you, Lisa. Hiding her pain behind a false smile. She suffers now... and always has..." So saying, he drifted off, a vague black shape against the warm wood tones of the ship.

Kiri stared into the wind, unusual melancholy settling over his sharp features. Lisa, finding that there was nothing she could say, gazed down at her hands, clenching them.

_I will become strong... so that I can help my friends... I don't want to weigh them down like I do now for the rest of our journey... I will become strong...!_

---

"Obaasan," Aura said gently, holding out the opalline crystal, "I think this belongs to you."

She placed it in Matoya's hand, smiling at the old woman's cry of surprise.

"It does that," the herbalist said wryly, slipping the chain around her neck. Staring at the girl who had returned her sight, she nodded. "It looks like you could've used this as well."

Aura shook her head, smiling sadly. "It belongs to you," she told the woman. "I'll keep searching for my own way to see again. Besides... I'm a psychic, so I don't need help right away."

"You've a good heart, young'un," Matoya said plainly, stumping over to a wall of phials. "Now, is there anything I can assist you with?"

"Actually..." Lisa ventured timidly. "A friend of ours is very, very sick from some kind of poison..."

"My little brother," Kiri interrupted. "He was stung by a giant scorpion in the Marsh Cave to the south of Elfheim. That's where he is right now."

Matoya nodded. "Can one of you describe his symptoms to me?"

Kiri and Lisa looked at each other awkwardly, but Kaze stepped forward with a nod. After a short discussion between the gunner and the herbalist, Matoya pulled a thin blue bottle from the wall.

"This antidote should do well against that type of poison. You were lucky your friend here thought of me... I'm one of the few who has the materials to make this type of elixer. And... you said he's in Elfheim?" Mystified, Aura nodded. "Then take this with you too." Matoya held out a yellow crystal flask. "It's Jolt Tonic, the most powerful potion in my collection. It might be able to help their sleeping prince."

"I don't know what to say," Aura murmured, overwhelmed. "Obaasan..."

"Go on, get," Matoya said calmly, waving a gnarled hand. "Your companion needs you, right? I'll see you some other time."

Aura nodded, taking the potions and heading off, letting the others trail her back to the port where they'd left the ship waiting.

---

_(Kumo)_

Through the ache crawling along my body and dulling my senses, I can hear a voice for the first time in what seems like years.

I expected Nallorn and Gaedrian to take me, but instead, they left me where I was, not even saying a word. I have floated in living death for some unmarked expanse of time, but... I don't know what's happening to me, nor have I since they abandoned me. I thought I was dying, but...

The voice calls to me again; I struggle through layers of thick, suffocating pain towards it.

"Kumo-chan... Kumo-chan...!"

I know this voice...!

Struggling to speak, I manage to choke out a reply, painfully opening my eyes. "Nii..sama...?"

I blink to clear my vision; Niisama's anxious face hovers next to me, deep fear in his beautiful eyes, a few strands of his long hair brushing against my chest. The warmth of my left hand makes me realize that he's clasping it tightly in both of his. Looking back to his face, I can see the tears starting to form in his eyes.

"Niisama..." For him, I can manage a smile.

The terror I can see scrawled across his features collapses like the card houses we made as children with Mother's guardians. To hide the tears on his face, he drops his head to my chest, speaking into my collarbones: "I thought you weren't going to scare me like that again."

"I'm sorry," I tell him, giving him the strongest hug I can through the remnants of whatever has kept me like this for so long.

Niisama gently kisses my chest, squeezing my hand. There is nothing more we need to say.


	6. Moving Forward

Nascent

Disclaimer be in Part I

Author's Note: Oh my gawd, there's actually an FF:U topic! At last! Someone got to the stack of emails begging for one! OMG yay!

The fanfic recommendation will be a quick one. Today's Story to Plug is "Crystal Heart" by Inexorable. I didn't think much of this fic when I first read it, but days after I'd set it aside, I realized that my mind had been going back to it a lot. It's tragic, but more than that, haunting... almost painful. And it does a good job at delving into Kumo's psyche; I could so see him having this complex. ...Anyway, in Inexorable's fic, the supposedly perfect relationship between Kaze and Kumo is crumbling. Our dearly beloved Rock-boy is neglecting his spouse to search for a mysterious item called the Crystal Heart... in fact, he's obsessed with finding it. As the days go by and the situation gets worse, Kumo starts to wonder if there is truth to Kaze's claim that he would sacrifice everything to get it, and teeters on the edge of a catastrophic decision... if shonen-ai doesn't bother you, you absolutely have to check into this. It's a rare gem of a one-shot.

So, the characters' secrets are beginning to unravel. Muwa ha ha. This chap should be pretty short; we're just trying to get everyone to Melmond anyway... there the real fun will begin... (evil laughter)

---

_(Lisa)_

Now that Kumo has recovered enough to move, we're on our way back to Cornelia.

Aura reasons it out this way... since we've failed miserably in trying to get news of a crystal here, maybe we can go the opposite direction of the one we started in and find something else.

Besides, perhaps something will come of our parting gift from the elves.

In exchange for giving them the Jolt Tonic, the people of Elfheim granted us the use of their master key. According to them, it's able to break even the oldest, strongest locks; they've told us that the depths of Cornelia and the Chaos Shrine are only accessible with it.

I'm still a little shocked by Aura's confession. Although I know that she can see well enough now, it had to have been awful for her... I'm surprised she's able to act so strong in spite of everything. What Garland did to me, as well as what happened in the village, has left me shyer than I have been in a while.

I know that they can all tell how I'm trying to hide my past. Maybe I'll be able to tell them the truth about my magic, and... my other powers... someday soon. Maybe...

And maybe I'll become strong enough to assist them, when they've done so much already for me...

---

Cornelia was just as peaceful and quiet as before, although this time around, the citizens recognized their ragged party and gladly offered their assistance in the quest, allowing them to stay at the inn for free.

"We've got to go talk to His Highness about this key thing," Aura told Lisa as she and Kaze stood up, preparing to leave. "The three of you should just stay here and rest."

Rest was exactly what Lisa felt she needed. It seemed like they'd been journeying forever, and not only hadn't they accomplished the point of their quest, they'd spent all their time out endlessly getting sidetracked. She retreated to her room, resolved to get a bath later, and slipped out of her shift, collapsing on her bed. How she loved soft sheets. Her last thought before drifting off was vague annoyance at the sobbing moans that came from a nearby room in the inn; could she ever get some rest without being interrupted by some hot-for-it couple?

But before she could complain to herself further, she was asleep.

---

Some ten or fifteen minutes after Lisa had hit the hay, Kumo and Kiri ensconced themselves firmly in the inn's bath chamber.

Like Pravoka, Cornelia's inn had a wide bath chamber fed by the presence of an underground river. The difference was that the spring beneath this town wasn't a normal one. It was a hot spring.

"I love hot water," Kumo murmured softly, stretching luxuriantly in the bath, wearing nothing but his skin. "I love hot water, I love hot water, I love hot water..."

Kiri laughed, stepping out of his pants and loincloth and depositing them on the pile of red cloth and leather that he'd been wearing not long ago. "Cheh. I know what you mean." He grinned and pointed at the water. "If it was any deeper, I'd cannonball in." The pool was only about three feet deep at its lowest point; even so, it was enough for them to soak in, sitting up to their shoulders at the side.

Once Kiri had joined him in the water, Kumo headed over to him and snuggled into his side, hugging him around the waist.

Kiri's smile quickly left his face. "Kumo-chan..." His little brother looked up at him. "Your wound... it isn't healing."

"Wha...? ...Oh, you mean this." Kumo looked down at the angry mark on his belly. "No... it hasn't been. But it's not bleeding and it doesn't hurt, and it doesn't look like it's gotten infected, so... maybe this is as healed as it's going to be."

Gently, Kiri touched the patch of rough, scarred skin, probing softly with the pads of his fingers. Before he could stop himself, Kumo winced, squeezing his eyes shut tightly in pain.

"Doesn't hurt, huh?" Kiri asked, his voice gaining an edge. "And look at this." Unable to help it, Kumo stared at the tiny wisp of what looked like red smoke in the water. "You're still bleeding, all right. The only thing you're right about is that there's no infection. Kumo, don't lie to me. You're still hurt. I thought you were in pain earlier, but I knew better than to ask... you never tell me the truth about things like that. But when I saw blood on the sheets..." He shook his head. "Your immune system's still weak from dealing with the poison and Matoya's potion. It's just been one thing after another for you on this journey, and it's starting to scare me. I don't want to lose you, okay? I hate seeing you in pain like this. I want you to trust me enough to tell me about this. ...Otherwise, I just worry without knowing..."

Kumo hung his head. "I... I just didn't want to trouble you..."

"You idiot," Kiri said softly, affectionately. He gave his brother a swift, tight hug. "All you've ever done to trouble me is give me stuff to worry about like this. It scares me when something's wrong and you don't tell me. It reminds me of before."

"Niisama..." Kumo stared up at him out of big, pained jadeine eyes. "I'm not losing my soul, you know that! You shouldn't worry! It's just taking a long time to heal, that's all!"

"Just shut up," Kiri replied, still holding him tightly. "It might not be the same thing, but if it keeps on like this, you could lose your life to it all the same. Likewise, if anyone finds out about the crystal growing in your body... just be careful, dammit. I never want to feel fear like that again."

"I'm sorry," Kumo said softly, clinging to his brother. "I really am sorry..."

"Don't apologize," Kiri told him, smiling a little. "It's not your fault."

"I know... I'm sorry."

Kiri shook his head and kissed Kumo's cheeks, ruffling his hair. "Silly. C'mon, let's finish up. After that, I'll bandage you up again, and we can get some rest while we wait for Kaze and Aura to come back. Okay?"

"Unn," Kumo replied with a smile, scrubbing at a grateful tear. "Kansha suru."

---

"So, this dwarf... could get us out of the loop we're stuck in?" Aura asked, intrigued.

"Yes," the king of Cornelia replied. "Nerrick of Duregar wants to create a canal to open up a passage for shipping. You'd be able to get out of the Minor Sea and into the Major... into the ocean. That way, you'd be able to search the far lands for these crystals, and reach the ports near the Crescent Lake, where the man who foretold your coming, Lukahn, has headed."

Kaze finally spoke, a shrewd look on his face. "If he wants to create this canal, then why has he not made one already?"

"Nerrick needs to obtain a substance called nitro powder in order to create the kind of explosion that could open up the earth like that," the king explained. "I believe there is some locked in the dungeons beneath this castle, but those rooms were sealed long ago by the elves so that the items inside could not fall into the wrong hands."

Aura smiled slowly, and flicked the key from her wide sleeve. "Sealed by the elves...? I think we have a way to remedy that."

---

A piercing shriek echoed through the room.

Kiri and Kumo leapt up, all traces of sleep gone. They knew that voice... and the terror in it froze their blood.

"Lisa..." Kumo said softly, exchanging alarmed glances with his brother.

"We'd better go," Kiri replied, tugging on loincloth, boots, and greaves. He grabbed his sword from where it stood beside the door, then padded into the hallway. Kumo hesitated briefly, then yanked on his own underclothing and followed suit.

Kaze and Aura were already in the small chamber, on either side of Lisa, who was sitting up in bed and clutching her covers to her chest, trembling.

"What happened?" Kiri asked in a low voice, his battle stance easing.

Aura shook her head. "I'm not sure. We'd just gotten back, and then... we were coming up for bed when Lisa here..." She spread her hands wide in the universal gesture for puzzlement.

"Everyone..." Lisa whimpered into her hands. "It's burning... everything is burning... everyone... everyone... everyone...!"

She barely stifled a sob by choking it with her sheets, then abruptly slumped sideways, relinquishing the sweaty linen in favor of Kaze's travelworn black cloak. Her shoulders shook, but she made no sound.

Kaze stood poleaxed for a few moments, then gently put a hand on her shoulder.

"Nightmare," he said softly, taciturn as ever.

Everyone relaxed, knowing that there was no one trying to attack them.

"Why were you so late?" Kiri asked Aura in an undertone. "I thought you were just visiting the royalty...?"

The silver-haired girl crossed her arms. "Oniichan and I learned about a dwarf who was trying to make a canal that would open a passageway to the outer waters. We got the materials he needed here, then went off to help. We'll be able to make for the towns along the Major Sea tomorrow... Oniichan said that Melmond would probably be our best bet before we head on to Crescent Lake. It was a while there and back." The corner of her mouth twitched as she shifted her weight. "You're hanging out a bit there."

Kiri's face flamed furiously. "Wh-what!"

The crooked smile turned into a crooked grin. "Heh. Just kidding. Although it definitely is close. You, my friend, need to get a bigger loincloth. Kumo, fix yours. You may not be in your brother's position size-wise, but if you don't tie or sew that seam, you'll be falling down there."

The little swordsman blinked, then suddenly realized her point--the seam at the side of his loincloth was coming undone; it was lopsided, with the ripped side slipping down his hip to reveal his navel and a gratuitous amount of soft, fair skin. "Ah!" Both hands dove for the tear. "Ohmygodohmygodohmygod! How embarrassing!"

Aura's grin turned into a chuckle as the flustered Kumo's fingers slipped in the middle of knotting the garment's side, letting it fall right back open again. She walked over, pushed his hands out of the way, and tied it firmly for him. Out of danger, Kumo sighed, his entire face hot pink in humiliation.

"And you tell me that _I _have no sense of propriety," Kiri grumbled.

Aura simply smiled and gestured in the direction of Lisa and her brother. The formerly bereft young woman had loosened her death grip, and was even giving a watery giggle.

"Get some new underwear while we're in town. Neither I nor Lisa want to see you two, shall we say, 'exposed'. You're impossible... always so hard on your clothes." Kiri grumbled something else that Aura chose to ignore.

Lisa's giggles continued. Kiri and Kumo chose to avoid her eyes, as well as those of the others.

Kaze simply shot his sister a look of deep gratitude, to which she gave no visible reply.

---

They set out for Melmond the next day.

Considering the fact that the canal had just been created the previous night by blowing a huge hole in the strait that connected the ring of southeastern continents, the water was very calm. Kaze and Aura stood in the prow, staring out towards land, while Lisa sat near the mast with her legs drawn up to her chest. As before, Kumo had commandeered the crow's nest; Kiri had taken the helm and was once again steering.

Sighing in relief, Lisa allowed herself to take small pleasure in the fact that she was actually on a boat, skimming across the water. She had only sailed before on the tiny fishing crafts down the river near her home village... sensing a danger subject, the black-haired girl grimaced and skimmed away from the thought.

She was lucky that the others hadn't gotten nosy about her nightmare. If they had, she'd have had to tell them everything, and she wasn't sure she could just yet. She was beginning to earn their trust; if they knew what she'd been keeping from them all along...

But then again, they had their secrets too, didn't they?

Feeling properly ashamed for every reason and no reason at all, Lisa tried to think of other things the rest of the way. It was enough already that her brain was guilt-tripping her about Aura's confession... she didn't need any more little blessings.

The port was simply an old, rickety wooden dock, to which Kiri and Aura lashed the ship with only a little difficulty. That done, the party disembarked and headed towards Melmond, where they'd planned to ask around and restock on supplies before heading to the crescent lake where Lukahn, the man who'd prophecied their arrival, was rumored to have gone.

After only about half a mile inland, with Melmond already in sight, Aura stopped dead and glared at the horizon with distaste scrawled across her oval face. "What the hell is that _smell?" _she complained, curling her lip just slightly as she spoke.

Everyone else stopped as well. Lisa, looking around and trying to discern what it was about the landscape that jarred her nerves. It wasn't a smell, she decided, so much as a _feeling _of something being not quite right. And it was _very _annoying.

Kiri paused and scented the air, much in the same way as a wolf might, which amused Lisa slightly. If she put her mind to it, she could definitely see brash, opinionated Kiri Madoushi as a four-legged, furry animal--he certainly had the bad attitude for it. But now wasn't really the time... "It smells like... like something that's been dead for a while," he said frankly. "Like something rotting. But I can't think of anything that would smell like _this _rotting... it's obviously not food, or meat..."

Kaze stared across the vast plain with a sad, distant look in his cerulean eyes. "The earth..." he said softly, so quietly that they might've missed his words.

---

_(Lisa)_

We have arrived in Melmond.

The town is in a pitiable state. Its buildings and walkways are decomposing, sinking steadily into the ground, and the smell of dearth and decay is everywhere. I myself feel as if I will choke on the thickness of the awful stench. I simply can't stand it any longer...

Kaze is right, it _is _the earth itself that's rotting--it squelches beneath our feet as we walk, a muddy, slushy, smelly mess. I keep half-expecting insects to appear and start feeding on it at any moment.

The townsfolk claim that the soil beneath them started to decompose when a creature claiming to be one of the Four Fiends who are rumored to cause destruction and death wherever they go arrived in a nearby cave. They look to us for help, seeing the crystal around my neck and proclaiming us the heroes who were foretold in legend to come and save them from the slow and steady death of the land around them.

Strangely enough, Kaze seems to be more affected by this than the rest of us. Not minding the mucky mess clinging to his clothes, he has knelt in the midst of the horror, pressing his left hand deeply into the ruined soil and staring fixedly at the ground with an expression of deep, aching sympathy rather than his usual calm, apathic one.

It makes me dizzy to stay here... and the pain of the spirits is making my heart hurt.

I hope that we can leave here quickly.


End file.
